PUBLIC INTERVENTION IN RICE MARKETING 75 the rice marketing system in the West Godavari District—the "rice bowl" of Andhra Pradesh—but his approach is different, although he discovers, through his study, some aspects of the "unequal" relationships outlined above. He uses the model of "perfect" corn* petition and the "efficient" market with which it is associated as a bench-mark and views the unequal relationships as manifestations of "imperfections" and "inefficiencies" that is deviations from the model. There ,are no regulated rice markets in West Godavari. Subbarao attributes the observed imperfections in the market to this and to the lack of flow of price information to the sellers and, in some cases, to the lack of good roads and transport facilities, Village brokers play an important intermediate role between the farmers and the rice millers. The latter occupy a pivotal position in the trade, since they not only process paddy but also build stocks of grains and act as wholesalers. In general, prices received by small farmers are lower than those received by large farmers. The differences in prices received by different farmers are shown to depend also on factors such as the time of sales and storage capacities available with the farmers. But on the precise nature of the inter-relationships between big and small farmers on the one hand and brokers and millers on th^ other and how these could, influence the prices received th^re is only a small amount of information: farmers indebted to moneylenders and other "non-institutional" agencies receive lower prices; besides, there are passing references to the "staying power" and "bargaining power" of the big farmers. Examining the differences in prices paid to farmers in different villages, the author attributes them to differences in "infrast-ructural development"—that is good roads and transport and so on this apart, the spatial differences in prices appear to the author to conform to the competitive model market: price differences are no larger than transport costs. Regional differences in the size of the surplus in relation to local needs may also influence inter-villag^ price variations but the author does not consider them. In the second part of the study, which is less interesting, the author examines the impact of public intervention on the market,He begins on a mildly skeptical note with a remark— tucked in a footnote—that the main objective of government operations, namely "to ensure fair prices to both the producer and consumer", is probably inconsistent and unrealistic. In the sequel Subbarao examines two instruments of State policy: producer levy and levy on millers and shows that both have failed in terms of pro-